This core indicator evaluates the state of the marine environment using distribution of the three species of seals that occur in the Baltic Sea. This dataset is for the Harbour seal. Quantitative thresholds are used to evaluate the core indicators status in "Achieve", "Fail" or "Not assessed". The core indicator has three components for each species: distribution of haul-out sites, breeding sites and foraging areas. Good status is achieved when the distribution of seals is close to pristine conditions (e.g. 100 years ago), or where appropriate when currently available haul-out sites are occupied (modern baseline), and when no decrease in area of occupation occurs. The current evaluation covers the assessment period 2011-2016. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 2 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins). Attribute information: "HELCOM_ID" = ID of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Area (km2)" = Area of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Name" = Name of the HELCOM scale 2 assessment unit "Status" = Status of the indicator (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator

This dataset describes fishing intensity for surface mobile bottom contacting gear in 2014 based on VMS/Log book data processed by ICES Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD). ICES secretariat collected during 2017 relevant VMS and logbook data for 2009-2016 to produce, as a technical service to HELCOM, updated spatial data layers on fishing intensity/pressure. Improved data quality control checks were implemented. Submitted data across the HELCOM area have improved in quality compared to previous data 2009-2013 published in 2015. Standardized methods were used to produce the requested data layers. The code used to create the data products is available here: https://github.com/ices-eg/wg_WGSFD For further technical information on the advice request, see http://www.ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication%20Reports/Advice/2017/Special_requests/helcom.2017.18.pdf HELCOM secretariat did the following processing to the shapefile provided by ICES: - Conversion to ETRS89LAEA coordinate system - Added feature and attribute "Reported" to display unreported areas. Dataset attribute information: c-square: Unique reference of the c-square polygon Year: Year of fishing activity mid_lat: latitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees mid_lon: longitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees SurfaceSAR: Surface area ratio (Swept area, < 2 cm penetration depth of the gear components) Subsurface: Subsurface area ratio (Swept area, subsurface =>2 cm penetration depth of the gear components) totweight: Total Weight (kg) totvalue: Total value (Euros) Kw Fishing Hours: (Kw*h) Fishing hours: (h) Reported: Yes=Reported data. No= No reported data (area that does not contain effort/intensity value due to lack of reported data). Please note that this dataset was updated (v2) in January 2019, see further details below in the lineage section.

This core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) in Baltic Sea fish and in a few assessment units using the secondary matrix seawater. Quantitative thresholds are used to evaluate if core indicators status is "Achieve", "Fail" or "Not assessed". Good status is achieved when the concentrations of PFOS are below the threshold value. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 4 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins and further division into coastal and off-shore areas and division of the coastal areas by WFD water types or water bodies). Attribute information: "OBJECTID" = Object identification "HELCOM_ID" = Code of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "Descriptio" = Description of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator "Contamination ratio in biota" = Contamination ratio in biota for this substance "Status in biota" = Status of the indicator in biota (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Contamination ratio in water" = Contamination ratio in water for this substance "Status in water" = Status of the indicator in water(“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”) "Overall status" = Overall Status of the indicator according to one-out-all-out (“Achieve”, “Fail” or “Not assessed”)

This core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on the reproductive status of seals in the Baltic Sea. Quantitative thresholds are used to evaluate if core indicators status is Achieve, Fail or Not assessed. Good status is achieved when the annual reproductive rate (i.e. pregnancy/birth rate) is at least 90% for five years and older (harbour seals) and six years and older (grey and ringed seals). Currently, a full status evaluation has only been carried out for the grey seal based on Finish and Swedish data. The indicator is applicable for all species of seals and marine mammals that occur in the Baltic Sea, however the amount of data have so far been insufficient for an evaluation of other marine mammal species. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 1 (Whole Baltic). Attribute information: "Species" = Species "CODE" = Code of the assessment unit "Assessment" = Assessment unit name "Threshold" = Threshold value of core indicator "Result value" = Result value of core indicator "Binomial proportion confidence interval" "Status" = Status for the whole indicator "Notes" = Additional information "AULEVEL" = Assessment unit level used for the indicator "ConfA" = Confidence of classification "ConfT" = Temporal confidence of classification "ConfS" = Spatial confidence of classification "ConfM" = Methodological confidence of classification

This core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons PAHs - BAP in biota. Quantitative thresholds are used to evaluate if core indicators status is "Achieve", "Fail" or "Not assessed". Attribute specifications and units: "HELCOM_ID" = Code of the HELCOM scale 4 assessment unit "country": country in which the HELCOM assessment unit is located or a mention to an open sea area "level_2" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit in scale 2 "Name" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit in scale 4 "Open_sea" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit in the open sea "F2_Name" = Name of the HELCOM assessment unit "determinan" = Determinat "est" = The estimated mean loge concentration in the assessment unit "se" = The standard error on the estimated mean log concentration in the assessment unit "fit" = The estimated mean concentration in the assessment unit "upper_cl" = Upper one-sided 95% confidence limit on the mean concentration: exp(est + qnorm(0.95) * see) "Status" = Overall Status of the indicator according to one-out-all-out

Broad-scale habitat maps for the Baltic Sea have been produced in the EUSeaMap project in 2016. For German and Estonian marine areas, national (more accurate) datasets were used. German data included both substrate and light information (division into infralittoral/circalittoral). Estonian data included only substrate and the division into light regimes was obtained from the EuSeaMap data. Here, the habitat class “infralittoral sand” includes classes “Sand” and “Muddy sand” of the original data, in the infralittoral zone. The original polygon maps have been converted to 1 km x 1km grid. The scale of the substrate data used in broad-scale habitat maps varies from 1:250 000 to 1:1M (data from EMODnet Geology). Coarser resolution data has been used in areas, where 1: 250 000 substrate data has not been available. Due to different scales used, the habitat classes may show different sized patterns in different areas.

This dataset describes fishing intensity for subsurface mobile bottom contacting gear in 2015 based on VMS/Log book data processed by ICES Working Group on Spatial Fisheries Data (WGSFD). ICES secretariat collected during 2017 relevant VMS and logbook data for 2009-2016 to produce, as a technical service to HELCOM, updated spatial data layers on fishing intensity/pressure. Improved data quality control checks were implemented. Submitted data across the HELCOM area have improved in quality compared to previous data 2009-2013 published in 2015. Standardized methods were used to produce the requested data layers. The code used to create the data products is available here: https://github.com/ices-eg/wg_WGSFD For further technical information on the advice request, see http://www.ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication%20Reports/Advice/2017/Special_requests/helcom.2017.18.pdf HELCOM secretariat did the following processing to the shapefile provided by ICES: - Conversion to ETRS89LAEA coordinate system - Added feature and attribute "Reported" to display unreported areas. Dataset attribute information: c-square: Unique reference of the c-square polygon Year: Year of fishing activity mid_lat: latitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees mid_lon: longitude coordinate of the centroid of c-square inWGS84 decimal degrees SurfaceSAR: Surface area ratio (Swept area, < 2 cm penetration depth of the gear components) Subsurface: Subsurface area ratio (Swept area, subsurface =>2 cm penetration depth of the gear components) totweight: Total Weight (kg) totvalue: Total value (Euros) Kw Fishing Hours: (Kw*h) Fishing hours: (h) Reported: Yes=Reported data. No= No reported data (area that does not contain effort/intensity value due to lack of reported data). Please note that this dataset was updated (v2) in January 2019, see further details below in the lineage section.

Observations of Hippasteria phrygiana were collected from the Baltic Sea area for HELCOM Red List species list. The HELCOM Red List of Baltic Sea species in danger of becoming extinct (2013) is the first threat assessment for Baltic Sea species that covers all marine mammals, fish, birds, macrophytes (aquatic plants), and benthic invertebrates, and follows the Red List criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Almost 2800 species were considered in the Red List assessment and about 1750 were evaluated according to the IUCN Red List criteria. Hippasteria phrygiana has been placed to the Red List category of Vulnerable (VU) species. Dataset for download contains spatial grid of the Baltic Sea. Distribution of the species can be found in corresponding name column. Values are coded: 1 - Present before year 2000 or in 2000, 2 - Present after year 2000, 3 - Present both before and after year 2000.

The dataset contains the number of hunted birds (number of birds/area) per year per area for each target species: common scooter (Melanitta nigra), velvet scoter (Melanitta fusca), eider (Somateri molissima) and long tailed duck (Clangula hymalis). The dataset covers the period 2016-2021. The data was made available by HELCOM Contracting Parties in response to a data call. The data was reported by Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Sweden. The activity was declared as not relevant in Germany, Latvia and Poland. Attribute specification and units: Area: Name of the area given by the national data provider Eid_2016-Eid_2021: Number of hunted eiders in 2016-2021 LTD_2016-LTD_201: Number of hunted long tailed ducks in 2016-2021 Sco_2016-Sco_2021: Number of hunted common scoters in 2016-2021 VSc_2016-VSc_2021: Number of hunted velvet scoters in 2016-2021 avg_syears: average of number of hunted birds

This dataset represents the underlying sediment data on core indicator Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). The core indicator evaluates the status of the marine environment based on concentrations of Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) in biota and sediment. Quantitative thresholds are used to evaluate if core indicators status is Achieve, Fail or Not assessed. This dataset displays the result of the indicator in HELCOM Assessment Scale 4 (Division of the Baltic Sea into 17 sub-basins and further division into coastal and off-shore areas and division of the coastal areas by WFD water types or water bodies). Attribute information: "region" = name of subbasin "country" = country/ opensea "station" = Unique code for the station "stationNam" = name for the station "determinan" = determinant parameter "detGroup" = the grouping of determinands used to display the results "_shape" = shape used to map assessment results "colour" = colour used to map assessment results "l3area" = HELCOM assessment unit on scale 3 "l4area" = HELCOM assessment unit on scale 4 "nyall" = total number of years of data "nyfit" = number of years of data used in the assessment "nypos" = number of years with at least one measurement above the limit of detection "lastyear" = most recent year of data "prtrend" = the significance of the change over the most recent 20 years; for the assessment conducted in November 2017 and published in June 2018, this is the period 1996-2016 "rtrend" = annual ‘linear’ change over the most recent 20 years "meanLY" = fitted value in last monitoring year "clLY" = upper one-sided 95% confidence limit on fitted value in last monitoring year "EQS" = Threshold value "EQSdiff" = difference between clLY and EQS "EQSbelow" = whether the mean value in the last monitoring year is significantly below EQS